EU Paving the Way for Human Rights and Environmental Due Diligence

We are living in historic time for sustainability. The 2020 pandemic has shown a shift in the sustainability movement, with many seeing it as a timely opportunity to re-engage and drive long term systemic positive change.

One way of affecting change is legislation - or the looming potential for legislation.

Last year, the Governor of the Bank of England has warned that "Companies and industries that are not moving towards zero-carbon emissions will be punished by investors and go bankrupt"

He also "told big corporations they had two years to agree rules for reporting climate risks before global regulators devised their own and made them compulsory" (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/oct/13/firms-ignoring-climate-crisis-bankrupt-mark-carney-bank-england-governor)

More recently on 2nd September, 26 companies released a joint statement calling for EU-wide, cross-sectoral mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence legislation:

"The COVID-19 crisis is demonstrating the fragility of global supply chains, and the vulnerabilities this creates and exacerbates for workers, communities and businesses around the world. As we recover and rebuild, we recognise the need for new binding standards which benefit all and promote sustainability. Mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence is key to ensure that efforts by companies that respect people and the planet, both during and post COVID-19 recovery, are not undercut by the lack of a uniform standard of conduct applying to all business actors."

Let's hope that these type of efforts will go a long way towards a more sustainable future.